Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Perak Speaker Has the last say

There should be no confusion as to the role of the State Assembly Speaker on the May 7th Sitting. The Assembly sitting under the tree was a valid State Assembly meeting . And the meeting agenda for all intent and purpose had endorsed the suspension of Zambry and his six exco members. The apex Federal court had no jurisdiction to interfere with the decision of the legislature.

In addition, the Speaker has every right to also ignore the decision of the Federal court that the E.C was the body to decide on the three seats supposedly vacated by the three State assemblymen. This also means that the speaker has every right to bar the three state assemblymen from participating in the sitting.

Therefore on the 7th May sitting, the speaker can further exercise his authority by disallowing Zambry and his members from participating in the Assembly sitting.The suspension of Zambry and the six excos by the speaker have not been rescinded and therefore remain valid. The speaker has every right to just ignore the Federal court' s decision declaring that the suspension was invalid as the Federal court had acted ultra vires in making a decision on legislative procedure which was beyond the jurisdiction of the courts . This was evident and clearly pointed out by many legal experts that the Federal constitution under s72(1) prohibits State Legislature proceedings to be subjected to judicial review.

In the absence of Zambry and the six exco members, and the three resigned state assemblymen, the assembly sitting can resume and the motion of confidence on Nizar and his exco members can be moved and put to vote. And since Pakatan members has a majority in the state legislature whatever motion proposed can be passed with a simple majority.

Alternatively, the speaker can under the advise of the M.B ,propose a motion to dissolve the assembly and seek permission from the ruler to carry out the motion.That in essence means the Speaker has the last say in the may 7th Assembly sitting.

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